MEC Principles of Design

These principles guide MEC’s decision making in designing workshops and other professional development events.

Model fully the learning environment and assessment practices that optimize learning in mathematics classrooms; bring the Standards for Mathematical Practice to life.

Get the ‘grain size’ right – when planning for instruction and/or identifying student/teacher-learning outcomes, a ‘unit of study’ rather than a lesson is the appropriate grain size.

Surface ‘soft spots’ in learners’ understanding early and often, and push on those ‘soft spots’ throughout the unit/workshop.

All learners have mathematical ideas worth listening to, and it is our job as teachers and PD providers to build a classroom/workshop culture that helps students/teachers learn to express their ideas clearly.

Meet a range of learner needs through the use of ‘menu’ and ‘expandable tasks’ allowing access to all and yet challenging every learner.

Mathematical discourse and convincing mathematical arguments are essential. PD providers/teachers are not the answer book. The soundness of the mathematics should be the arbiter of whether or not an idea is reasonable.

Through questioning and listening carefully to what they have to say, continually seek to understand students’/teachers’ thinking.

Embrace mistakes as sites for new learning; they provide opportunities to look more deeply or consider ideas that might not otherwise be encountered.

Recognize confusion or cognitive dissonance as a necessary, and even desirable part of the process of learning; a natural step on the pathway to constructing new understanding.

While efficiency is a goal, recognize that whether or not any given strategy is efficient lies in the thinking and understanding of the individual learner.